The Designer | Tom Dixon x Caesarstone

October 19, 2015

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be invited to a breakfast at MULTIPLEX for a special announcement on a collaboration between leading quartz manufacturer Caesarstone and Tom Dixon (yes, him again!) Since 2013, Caesarstone have run a designer programme to push the boundaries of pragmatic design and we’ve previously seen works from Nendo, Raw Edges and Phillippe Malouin – Phillippe did THOSE Milan swings if you didn’t know. 2016 will see Mr Dixon involved in the programme, with a focus on celebrating the theatre of food and cooking whilst also demonstrating the qualities of Caesarstone. If you haven’t seen Caesarstone before, they’ve got that marble thing down.

The morning involved a breakfast with a difference. Tom’s vision for the programme includes four semi-professional kitchens based on Ice, Fire, Earth and Air so of course we experienced food reflecting the qualities of each element. Francesca Sarti of Arabeschi di Latte, who will be consulting on the programme, developed the food concept and provided us with some stunning, alternative breakfast offerings as shown below.

As you can see it’s all rather delicate looking and everyone was a little weary to ruin anything at first. I soon found the lovely Hannah though and we tested our way round the tables before hearing a little more about the collaboration. For the first time the 2016 programme will span multiple locations, commencing in January at the Interior Design Show Toronto, continuing to Milan in April for Milan Design Week and followed by other locations in North America, Europe and Asia – all pretty exciting stuff and I hope I get to catch it at one of the shows.Each kitchen will be themed around an element relating to a feature of the local culture. Processes such as freezing, harvesting, pounding and chopping will be celebrated, with the noise, steam, flame and smoke all playing a part. The first Toronto kitchen will experiment with the translucency and luminosity of Caesarstone in an art gallery installation. Playing on the tradition of Canadian ice fishing and challenging Caesarstone surface materials with very low temperatures, food will be served on a floating water conveyer belt across frozen surfaces. Sounds bloomin’ great.

After leaving with marble adorned packages of burnt cheesecake (it’s meant to be) and the softest meringues ever, I’m very much into this partnership. You’ve already seen my love for Tom Dixon and I can’t think of anything better than incorporating his designs with food. Match. Made. In. Heaven.

Oh and if you didn’t know, I’m working on a lovely little Shop featuring some of my favourite things. You guys will be able to shop directly through my blog and everything will be handled by the brilliant bunch at Showroom. Here’s my first selection – a few element inspired products from Tom himself.